It seems there are a lot of things to consider when thinking about mandatory testing. I know, for sure, that I believe if there was testing in school, it absolutely should be volunatry.

Personally, I would want to get my child tested privately. This is a personal matter and does not need to be recorded in a students records which follows them all through school and whoever has access to those records can read this information. I actually don't know how they could do this, at least manadorily, with the new HIPAA laws that have gone into affect, protecting our privacy.

Of course, I have medical insurance and would be able to afford this testing. There are way too many people who don't and I do feel sorry for any child that has to go undiagnosed and treated and continue to suffer the consequences of a mental illness they may have. Or as another said, what about the student that knows something is wrong and wants help, but their parents don't agree.

Perhaps the answer is to have a National Screening Day, that is not connected with the schools in any way. If someone wanted the testing, they could get it at no cost.

I would not consider Peter Briggin a good source to learn more about anything to do with mental health. He is an extremist who is against just about everything. Certainly not the kind of professional I would want to tap for unbias factual information.

I want to point out something about the SSRI's. They were tested and approved for people 18 and above. They work very well for many people and they are much safer than the old tricyclics. Use of SSRI's with children under 18 ihas not been studied. Doctors are prescribing them because they can work for children too, but at what dose? It seems a small dose than for adults.

Paxil took a hit with a huge lawsuit over a child commiting suicide, claiming the Paxil caused this. It may have, but these cases are very rare and because all the SSRI's have to warn about this, to cover their butts against lawsuits, there is this mass scare now about this possible side effect. It is totally blown out of proportion.

Anyone, child or adult should be getting these kind of meds from a psychiatrist who is familiar with them and know what to look out for. Anyone on these meds. need to be monitored regularly, at least once a month, if not more, so a variety of things can be watched out for, including a depression that is not being helped by the drug or a depression that is getting worse.

People don't even consider, just as with adults, these drugs may not work for them. If someone is on an SSRI's they are either taking it for OCD or depression. That would mean the person was already depressed. If they are on a medicine that isn't even working, and no one knows that, their depression can continue to get worse and that may lead to suicide, having nothing to do with the drug. But since they are on the med. the med gets blamed.

Just like with any drug, there can be common, less common and rare side effects. We don't throw the drug out because it has a rare side effect and someone gets it, while thousands of others are taking it without these effects and being helped greatly by the meds. What drug works for one, may not work for another, that is all drugs. Earlier this year I started a medicine and the next day I woke up with lock jaw. That is not even listed under rare side effects, but when we called my doctor, he said the doctors are aware, through experience, that this can happen. I stopped the drug immediately and in a few days my jaw was back to normal. There are lots of others taking the drug successfully. I would never advocate that the drug be taken off the market.

muralsaz,

I read where you said you would prolong giving your two children, one with anxiety and the other with ADHD I believe, any meds as long as YOU can stay sane. What about your children. If their problems are making it hard for you to cope, just imagine what they are going through. Don't you worry about the frustration they are going through, trying to get through each day with such disorders? I have never had ADD, but I have read lots of stories on this board from people who were not even diagnosed until they were adults, and they all wish they had know when they were young and gotten help for it.

I have had anxiety. In fact I had an anxiety disorder. If you have ever experienced it on a constant basis, it can be like your whole body is hooked up to a low current of electricty that goes all over your body. It interfers with and alters ones thinking as well. It makes functioning in the world much harder, you have to fight against the anxiety all the time. What if your children feel like they are going insane and nothing is being done about it?

Actually, Dr. Breggin isn't alone. Dr. Fred Baughman, Dr. Ann Tracy, Dr. Joseph Glenmullin, Dr. David Healy, Prof. Heather Ashton are just a few who have spoken out against the ill effects of psych drugs.

I've known people who have become manic and suicidal on SSRi's with no previous history of such. The ones that stayed on the drugs got pegged with a new bi-polar diagnosis, the ones that discontinued the drugs had the mania and suicidal feelings dissapper! Gone. Finito. How about that?

I'm just pointing out that although there are extremist views on these drugs, some of it is actually quite valid and backed with studies and research. Many personal stories point to this as well.

Now, granted, some people do just fine on the drugs and so be it, but I think we should listen to those "extremists" because we need to know both the good side AND the bad side of these drugs. Anything is possible since they can't really test for serotonin or any other neurotransmitter level to determine the proper levels, unlike diabetes, where the levels have been well established and the diabetic can administer the right amount of insulin by testing his own sugar levels everyday.

Serotonin itself can also be a detrement to one's health . It is a powerful vasoconstictor. Vasoconstriction raises blood pressure, it also forces the heart to work harder to pump the blood through the constricted vessels. Serotonin also is the neurotransmitter affected by LSD; poor metabolism of SSRi's over time could lead to too much serotonin in the brain which could cause depersonalization or possibly hallucination, irrational thought, sometime euphoric/manic behaviors which now they feel could not only cause suicidal feelings but maybe homicidal as well.

That last one gets to me. Eric Harris of the Columbine shooting was on Luvox; it seems many of these young shooters are on some SSRI, now the latest one in the news was on Prozac. One could say they would have done what they did anyway, but the mania that SSRi's can certainly cause or exasperate such behaviors. This becomes then, not an issue of the individual on the drug, but an issue of society where innocent people may be harmed. I'm guessing if it continues we will start seeing more lawsuits over SSRi induced homicides in the future.

So I'm thinking most children are better off without SSRi's unless there is extreme, dire need. In those cases, voluntary, not mandatory, testing should be available to everyone even without insurance.

This is a serious problem. How can we help in this matter. Who do we write to?... Our congressman? I have been giving our son this amazing product that I found online. His fourth grade teacher wondered what I did to him after about a week and a half of usage. He got all A's and B's except a C in one subject. Wow, we were so proud of him. This is a safe supplement that has been around for so long. I could have been giving him this when he was five. I cried when I read the earliest age that one could be to use it and how long it has been on the market. I found this supplement about half way through this past school year. I am also a big believer in homeopathy. If you don't believe it works, ask his former teachers when he went through the "agitation" period...LOL! It's no placebo, that's for sure. The only thing that hurts the reputation of homeopathy is that if you don't get all the behaviors on the table: likes, dislikes and quirkey little habits out too to describe to the homeopathic practitioner, then you might not get the perfect remedy. But the remedy does usually help something. Homeopathy has helped our son with attitudinal things. But he still struggles with attention problems, silliness and joking around if I don't give him the new supplement that I talked about first. I guess I must have missed something about his personality when trying to describe all about him. The practitioner also extensively interviews the child/main client as well. I continue to look for the perfect remedy. I will not give up. I have taken him to a really reputable homeopathic practitioner in S. California. But we still couldn't find the remedy that helped the attention, silliness, etc. However, it helped serious attitude problems. I decided to not to spend anymore money on $95.00 sessions and continue my research and possibly go to homeopathy school myself. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Last edited by moderator2; 07-15-2005 at 05:20 AM.
Reason: please read and follow the posting rules - no emails

This is a serious problem. How can we help in this matter. Who do we write to?... Our congressman? I have been giving our son this amazing product that I found online. His fourth grade teacher wondered what I did to him after about a week and a half of usage. He got all A's and B's except a C in one subject. Wow, we were so proud of him. This is a safe supplement that has been around for so long. I could have been giving him this when he was five. I cried when I read the earliest age that one could be to use it and how long it has been on the market. I found this supplement about half way through this past school year. I am also a big believer in homeopathy. If you don't believe it works, ask his former teachers when he went through the "agitation" period...LOL! It's no placebo, that's for sure. The only thing that hurts the reputation of homeopathy is that if you don't get all the behaviors on the table: likes, dislikes and quirkey little habits out too to describe to the homeopathic practitioner, then you might not get the perfect remedy. But the remedy does usually help something. Homeopathy has helped our son with attitudinal things. But he still struggles with attention problems, silliness and joking around if I don't give him the new supplement that I talked about first. I guess I must have missed something about his personality when trying to describe all about him. The practitioner also extensively interviews the child/main client as well. I continue to look for the perfect remedy. I will not give up. I have taken him to a really reputable homeopathic practitioner in S. California. But we still couldn't find the remedy that helped the attention, silliness, etc. However, it helped serious attitude problems. I decided to not to spend anymore money on $95.00 sessions and continue my research and possibly go to homeopathy school myself. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

I suppose you could write to someone like your congressmen; I did. It couldn't hurt. But big pharma has the bucks to not only influence the research that backs up use of drugs (recently revealed dishonest clinical trials by drug co.'s won't stop them much) but also they support people who have the power to get legislation passed in their favor.

Hopefully it would never get as far as mandatory drugging of diagnosed kids. That would be a horrible thing not to have the choice of the pros and cons of these drugs.

Given the possible health hazards of the drugs, I would think alot of people would fight that. I would think it be right here in America that a person would have the right to say what goes into their childs or their own body, especially something that could cause health problems not help one's health.

ADD is not like other proven diseases that threaten life or death; one cannot die simply by having ADD so I see no reason for it to be put in the catagory of endangering a child by not medicating but I do feel that the power of influence on not only government but individuals of the psychiatric community is growing so I'm not sure mandatory drugging in the future is so far fetched as it might seem today. Guess we'll wait and see.

Sorry if I'm doing this wrong, this is my 1st time. I do not in any way agree with mandatory testing or drugging of anyone in this matter. But I do have to respond to the comment that was made "ADD is not like other proven diseases that threaten life or death; one cannot die simply by having ADD so I see no reason for it to be put in the catagory of endangering a child by not medicating..." I do however disagree with that statement. No, one can not die from simply being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, but not all cases are the same. Some people who have ADD/ADHD have it worse or are affected differently then others. My son for example, he has always done well in school ACADEMECLY, getting mostly A's and B's even before he was diagnosed with ADHD/ODD and if he's doing something he enjoys like playing a video game or playing with his friends his attention is always there. His symptoms were more in the physical, scocial and emotional part of the illness, such as getting into fights, short temper, not interacting with other children according to the standards for his age level. My point is that my son's case may be worse than someone else who has also been diagnosed. Before the medications he was physically abusive to himself (bangging his head, biting his arms) and to others (hitting, kicking biting, hitting with objects other then his hands), he acted before he thought about consiquences, such as running into the street without looking, jumping out of a car before it has come to a complete stop, playing with sharp objects...Even though the diagnosis will not kill him, THE SYMPTOMS CAN if they are not treated properly! So, yes I do see ADD/ADHD as being a possible life threatening illness if it is severe. And although I don't agree with mandatory drugging I can see why they my try to say you are endangering the life of a child if you choose not to use the medication (in some cases). I think parents just need to sit down and wiegh out the pros and cons according to THIER CHILD'S NEEDS, keep an open mind because what you want may not always be what is best for your child. I never wanted my son on medication until he got to the point that he was completely out of control for me and the school and when I realized that my choices were to try the drugs and if they don't work take him off of them or not try the drugs and possibly lose my son to an accident because he can't control his actions, I quickly realized his life was worth more than my anti-drug stand.

I don't necessarily think a mental health screening would be a bad thing as long as it would be done in a prudent manner. However, the likelyhood of such a screening being done efficiently and worthwhile manner I think our school system and childeren would be better served by making funding available to have school psycologists (think like a school nurse but for mental health matters). This would be particularly worthwhile at middle and high school levels. In my experience there are alot of mental health issues going on in the schools that are either not being addressed or are being poorly handled. (Ex. Students that are cutters being told that their parents will be called if they don't stop and therebye making the student defensive and more secretive instead of actually dealing with the issues at hand. This is a very common practice and DOESN'T WORK!)

What about the children (more on the jr high, high school front) who feel they have a problem, yet the parent refuses to aknowledge it as a problem and refuses to help the child get the help and maybe the drugs they need? I had this problem when I was a child, and now that Im married I finally got the help that I needed and the drugs, but not without years of wonderif I was ok, normal and whatnot and being severly self destructive which I now have under control, no thanks to my parents. If I had the opportunity to get voluntay testing when I was in school, maybe I could have gotten help before things got out of control.
~Jen~

I agree totally. Mental health issues are very stigmatized. Making screening mandatory would help those who need it but who don't want to (or whose parents dont want to) face the associated stigma.